27/11/2014

Yewande Omotoso wins Morland Writing Scholarship

UEA’s inaugural Etisalat African Writing Fellow Yewande Omotoso has been awarded a Morland Writing Scholarship worth £18,000 to allow her to write her next novel. Yewande (pictured) is currently at UEA on a four-month fellowship established and sponsored by the international telecommunications company Etisalat. She was born in Barbados, grew up in Nigeria, and currently lives in Johannesburg. She trained as an architect at the University of Cape Town, where she later returned to take an MA in Creative Writing. Her debut novel ‘Bom Boy’ was published in 2011 and shortlisted for the 2012 Sunday Times Literary Awards, the MNet Film Award, and the 2013 Etisalat Prize for Literature. It won the South African Literary Award First Time Author Prize. The Miles Morland Foundation awards a small number of scholarships annually to African writers selected by a panel of African judges, this year chaired by Zimbabwean editor and publisher Ellah Wakatama Allfrey.